The Story of the Crystal Caticombs revised
by Kristoshi Warrior
Summary: This story is based during the episode 'the cross roads of destiny', and shows what could have happened if Zuko had not joined Azula and instead turned against her. Uncompleted, please R&R to help me improve. Rated T as a precaution.
1. Chapter I

**Disowner: I don't own avatar, Zuko, Iroh, or any of the other characters in Avatar the last airbender. They are Mike and Brian's. **

**Also, please don't go to hard on me- This is my first fanfic and I'm still not happy with it.**

Zuko staggered backwards. Unwarily, he cast a quick glance about him. His uncle, trapped behind him, encased from the shoulders down in some sort of green

crystal, was staring out at him from behind a rather large column of the glowing stone, gazing at him, his eyes were drilling into him, pleading with him, almost

begging him to make the decision. They made eye contact, but Zuko quickly broke it, and turned his gaze a group of people standing towards the back of the room,

the glowing gems of the crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se outlining their features: The avatar and his little band of friends. The avatar looking on nervously, but

Zuko had barely a second to pass his eyes over the small group before his attention snapped back into focus, as his sister stepped forward, pressing him back

even farther. Her attire was not the usual Azula garb, but instead, she wore dress of bright lime green, fashioning the earth kingdom symbol across her chest, and

a matching green ribbon in her hair, a useful disguise when traveling in the earth kingdom capitol of Ba Sing Se, and although it had possibly made her look less

dangerous, she was still the most intimidating person Zuko had ever seen. Make that the second most intimidating, but this wasn't the moment to think about his

father. Focusing again, Zuko listened as Azula spoke to him.

"Zuzu, how nice to see you here in the great earth kingdom capitol of Ba Sing Se."

"It's a shame that I cannot say the same for you, Azula. What are you doing here?"

"Brother, you sound just like Mai, always so quick to get to the point. I've plotted every move of this day, of this glorious day, and the only way we win is together.

At the end of this day, you will have your honor back, you will have father's love, you will have everything you want."

"You don't know what I want!" Zuko was surprised to hear himself speak, his voice was unusually soft and calm, and almost even serene, but also dangerous,

making it more pronounced then ever that he was related to Azula, "You don't know anything."

"Zuko, how can you say that! After all, you are the prince of the fire nation, and therefore are loyal only to your country, correct?" When Zuko did not reply, Azula

simply smiled and announced mockingly, "Well, we won't have to wait long for your decision. Are you a traitor, who abandoned his country to help the opposition, or

are you a prince who is devoted to making his country the best in the world."

And then, without hesitation, Azula shot a mountain of blue flame at Iroh, who could feel the intense heat bearing down on him, and he closed his eyes and looked

away, just as he had done when fire lord Ozai burnt his nephew, and waited for the blow to fall… but it didn't. Instead, a large wall of crimson flame blocked the

path of the oncoming cerulean orbs of fire. And the caster was Zuko.

"So, you are more loyal to Uncle than you are to me… what a shame. You could have been great, you could be respected and honored by the people, you could

have regained your honor, but no, you chose to betray an entire country for the sake of one man… what a shame." Azula was clearly relishing every moment, she

wanted to see her brother meet his doom, she wanted him to know that he would be defeated by one of the greatest firebenders in the world, and yet, she was

completely unprepared for his response. Instead of flaring up, like he normally would have, he looked her straight in the eye and said,

"Azula, Fire Lord Ozai would never have been able to give be back any sort of honor, because honor is something that you create for yourself."

"Been hanging around Uncle too much, eh, Zuzu"

"Yes, maybe I have."

Azula was furious that Zuko was so calm, but she couldn't let that stop her… after all, her brother hadn't beaten her in about three years, and why should that

change now? Azula mustered up her energy and launched a huge sapphire fireball at her brother. The fight had begun.


	2. Chapter II

Zuko saw it coming, but barely had time to react. Launching himself aside, he prepared several smaller

attacks which he launched in quick succession. It was amazing just how self-conscious Zuko could be,

whilst in such a dangerous situation. He was very aware of everything he was doing, everything around

him seemed to happen in slow-motion. Even though he couldn't spare the time to look around, he could

feel many pairs of eyes digging into him like dagger, and he could feel the heavy weight of responsibility

on his shoulders. If he didn't succeed to beat Azula… He didn't want to think about it. He launched two

small fire daggers at his sister, who sidestepped them easily, and sent a colossal explosion of blazing blue

flame at him, which he deflected, then responded to with an enormous curtain of fire, setting everything

in its path alight.

The heat in the room was building up, and already sweat was dripping of Zuko's brow as he fended off

another one of Azula's large blows, yet he could still hear the stillness that echoed throughout the entire

underground chamber; no one dared to speak, or even breathe: The dragon of the west himself was

holding his breath.

Iroh watched as his brother's two children set about each other, neither gaining the upper hand, neither

falling beneath the other, each absolutely determined to win. He could only look as Zuko shot several

small attacks at his sister, causing her to jump aside, but Azula prepared a huge fireball, easily the size of

all of Zuko's attacks put together, and let it fly loose towards Zuko, who blocked it with some difficulty,

but managed never the less. Again, Zuko discharged some undersized attacks, but now Iroh could see

what his nephew was playing at. He was not attempting to win, not yet, but merely to tire his sister out.

Iroh strongly suspected that he would have managed this, had Azula not lost her head entirely, and

released her last and most deadly weapon at him: Lightning.

Zuko was prepared for this, yet was still very much unnerved when he saw Azula twirl he hand, with her index finger and middle finger locked together in a fighting stance, and the blue sparks of this lethal

move she was about to perform sprang into reality. Zuko tried hard not to falter as Azula, his blood

sister, turned and pointed it in his direction.

Aang watched as Zuko and Azula battled. Their fight was very unusual; normally Zuko was

uncontrollable, but even as Aang watched, there was a certain calmness to him, and even if his brows

were furrowed in concentration, the expression Zuko bore could pass for that of someone taking a test

that had been well prepared for in advance, and he was blocking every blow that came his way with

relative ease, only firing when necessary, and simply staring ahead as if he was waiting for something,

although Aang had yet to figure out what it was.

Azula, on the other hand was a picture of distress. She was firing humongous blows right left and centre,

and as her cheeks grew redder and redder, her temper grew worse and worse, and Aang was sure that

she was just about to blow her top, when she produced something Aang had only seen once before,

when Azula had snuffed out the life of an old man as if he had been a mere insect to be stepped upon,

and it had unsettled Aang greatly. Now, as he saw it being turned on someone who was fighting for his

life, someone young, who had a long time to live, Aang found that he could not watch. Apparently Katara

felt the same way, for she had her face in her hands, but there was no way to block out the noise that

rang in his ears. Aang just did the best he could to ignore it. But he couldn't.


	3. Chapter III

Azula cackled. She could feel the energy surge through her, as she prepared her final attack. She was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and laughing manically, as she regarded her to-be victim with hungry eyes, which were glowing brilliant gold in the relative darkness deep underground.

Zuko knew what she was going to do as soon as he heard her snicker with amusement. Immediately he leapt into a stance used when redirecting lightning, and was wholly thankful for the lessons he had received from Uncle on the matter.

Even as he looked, he could see the static energy being released from her fingertips, and her air of extreme confidence was overwhelming, and Zuko was still debating on whether or not he had made the correct decision when the blue sparks of inferno made contact with his own body, and he followed the lead of the water benders of the great northern tribe, that of the single bender of the southern one, and of his uncle, and then energy flow was incredible, and as it reached his fingertips, he was one with the current of the great surge of lightning running through him, and he looked back towards his sister, his own blood running through her veins, and all of a sudden, he couldn't do it.

As soon as he had looked her in the eye, he had known, perhaps before then, as long-lost memories of Azula as a child raced through his head: Following him around, begin for a game of hide and explode, 'feeding' the turtle ducks, practicing fire bending with him once her gift had been revealed to her and the world, and having fun. Just an innocent, care free, worriless little kid.

He had let himself become distracted, and all of a sudden he almost lost control of the lightning running through him, and a sharp zap! of pain brought him back to reality.

Coming back to his senses, he what had startled him reflected in Azula's eyes, he made the slip second decision that even if he couldn't bring himself to kill her, he must, _must, MUST _at least hit her somewhere that wasn't vital, for Azula wouldn't hesitate to end him, and they both knew it.

So, bringing his fingers forwards, he let the lightning fly.


	4. Chapter IV

Azula watched the lethal bolt of lightning fly towards her brother at high speed. She saw him reach out towards it, as if to catch it in some way, to block it, to stop it from reaching him. But she knew that was impossible, because there was no way in the world that anybody could avoid…and then she saw it hit him. She had thought that he would drop to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut, or scream loud enough to wake the dead, but amazingly- he wasn't. He reached out towards it, pulling it in towards him, working with the flow of static energy, two of his fingers pointing on each hand, and he pulled it along with him, the lightning followed his every gesture, and she found those two fingers pointing at an invisible mark right between her eyes.

An audible gasp escaped her lips. Her brother- _Zuko- _was about to kill her with her own weapon. Her trick had backfired, and now she was going to pay the price, the ultimate price. For a single moment that seemed like an eternity, her golden eyes locked with his, and she could easily read the fierce determination that glowed within his irises, before he broke away, and moved his fingers just the tiniest bit lower, but so that they pointed solely at her legs, so that she might survive.

Chicken. Her brother was chicken. He had never killed anybody, and wasn't about to start with his own sister. She smirked for a split second, imagining her father's face when she returned home, triumphant, with the traitors. But Azula had never been shot with lightning before, and therefore had no real idea as of the speed at which it traveled, so there was no time to jump away from the dazzling blaze that reached out towards her, engulfing her with the inferno she had once commanded with such grace and nobility. She saw it hit her just below the knees, but strangely, she felt no pain. Glancing upwards, the last thing she saw was her brother run over towards her, his shocked face staring down at her with something she had rarely ever seen in him recently. Was it pity? Or concern? She didn't need either of them, they were traitors, he and Uncle Iroh both…Those thoughts flashed through her mind with the speed of the lightning with which she had just been hit, and then the world went black, like a deep hole, and she fell in, and kept falling, and then-nothing.

She was out cold.

* * *

Zuko's eyes met with his sisters', for nothing more than a brief second, before the lightning hit her, and she was down. No. He couldn't believe that he had just done it. He didn't mean too—she was his sister, no matter how much he hated her—but he had done it. He had defeated her, but he had hurt her, probably permanently.

He lost control of himself. Rushing over to her, he dropped to his knees beside her, not even thinking that it might be a trap of some sorts. "Agni…" He whispered. Quietly he placed his hand in her forehead. It was warm, and still heating up.

Standing up, he wavered unsteadily for a moment, and realized he was shaking. He made his way slowly over to the sparkling green river that ran underground, and tore a piece of fabric from his cream tea workers apron, which he then dipped into the water, moistening it.

He was completely unaware of the group of people standing there in the shadows, watching him, frozen, ready for an attack, yet so still, it was as if they weren't breathing. He was oblivious to the fact that his Uncle was still trapped in the glowing prison of gem stones; all he could seem to think about was his sister. Moving back towards her, he kneeled again, pressing the damp cloth to her face, in order to slacken her growing fever. He was still alone in his mind when he heard someone clear their throat in the background. He jumped violently, as if someone had stuck a pin in him, reaching a height which Aang had only ever seen an airbender achieve. Whirling around, Zuko automatically shifted into a fighting stance, until he realized that none of the people standing before him were a threat.

Uncle would not attack him, and besides which, (Zuko realized with shame,) he was still trapped inside the rocky prison, disabling the old man enormously. The other group of people was comprised of the avatar and his friends, whom of which he knew never attacked first, unless no other choice was available, and besides which, they all seemed too shocked to take in that Zuko was alive and on the loose, that they weren't even moving. Except the avatar. Zuko gathered that it was the bald monk who had cleared his throat, startling him so. The young boy was staring at the older teen so apprehensively that Zuko wondered that he couldn't see through to the jade wall on the other side of him.

"Would you _please _stop staring at me like that? It's very unnerving!"

"Right—Sorry, I just…"

"—Whatever." He glanced over the additional personages in the cavern. "Your friends seem to be made of stone. Maybe you should wake them up prior to leaving Ba Sing Se."

"Oh. About that—we can't leave this city until be get this message to the earth king, but that's seeming to be practically impossible."

Aang couldn't believe what he had just said. This was his second-or-third-to-worst-enemy he was talking to! Apparently Sokka couldn't believe either.

"Aang! What are you thinking about, talking to him? He's _Fire Nation! _He's _the prince!! _He's tried to _KILL YOU, _and here you are carrying a conversation with top-secret plans with him, as if none of that ever happened! Come on, we're going back to try again with the earth king."

"Yeah," the blind girl added, "And this time, let's see you glow it up there, twinkle toes!"

Zuko couldn't help but smirk as Dai Li agents began to pour in the room, completely surrounding the cluster of people in the underground chamber. "Well, good luck with that, anyway."

Sokka groaned.

**

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**

There you go! A double update, for a special treat.

**Next up—The fight with the Dai Li. Some more characters involved. Also, please check out my other story, 'Things are never as they seem'. It's 10 fold better, and will be updated more frequently than this one, which I'm just trying to finish off, really.**

**Thanks!**

**-Kristoshi Warrior**


	5. Chapter V

Sokka groaned. Completely surrounded by some of the best earthbenders in the Earth Kingdom, the fight was going to be much more difficult than some of the past ones that the gaang had issued, with various personages, of various nations. Each and every one of the avatar's friends stood stock still, as Zuko followed suite, and the avatar himself was barely breathing through the sheer concentration that would be necessary to win this battle. Finally, Zuko could take it no more. Attacking first was his strength, his nature, Aang knew, and it was agony waiting for something to happen. The prince pulled back his fists, and slammed the air in front of his with such power and energy, that it seemed the whole world would collapse with just one of his blows. Then, the first earthen fist flew towards Zuko at top speed, which he lightly sidestepped, remembering his first little encounter with them as an enemy. The Dai Li had returned fire, and were now advancing on the scarred teen for a full attack. Glancing up, the avatar was fairly certain that he saw the prince smirking. Then, simultaneously, every Dai Li agent lifted up a round earth kingdom wheel with a square in the middle, and lunched it towards Zuko, ran directly towards one of them, and jumped, once again proving that he could reach a distance to rival that of Aang's kind, and used his fire jets to push him to one side, flipping over Long Feng to expose the Agent's back to the fire.

Whirling around, Long Feng sent a large rock bolder flying from the earth, quickly followed by two of the signature Dai Li earthen fists, hoping to catch the banished prince off guard, but he could not; the boy seemed liable to dodge anything that was thrown at him, smash others, or even reduce a couple to smoke and ashes. Suddenly a glimmer caught the sharp golden eyes: leaping over Long Feng, he jumped to avoid a large boulder, and did a summersault over another green-clad man, and as he landed, he pulled twin dual swords from the sheath slung over the agent's back. Now, he had his one weapon that made him extremely dangerous when he couldn't bend as a refugee in the earth kingdom, and he had his fire. If he could now just wield the two together, like he had in the town where he had met Lee… He set a stance, with one sword behind his back, preparing to strike, and the other placed in front of him, so that he could easily defend at the same time. He glanced back at the group travelling with the avatar. Each was holding his own against the Dai Li: The water tribe boy was flinging his boomerang in odd directions about the room, catching some of the green men off guard. He also was knocking some over the closer ones over the head with a large white and blue club, which Zuko could only guess was a traditional water tribe weapon. His sister, the waterbender was taking on much more of a challenge: at least three times as many agents were on her, trying to get past her defense, and avoiding her offense- something it was difficult for fire to do, it wasn't a very defensive element, the prince reflected inwardly. The girl in blue caught a boulder and turned it on the attacker, and knocked another agent off his feet at the same tie with a water whip-ouch, he knew what that felt like, anyway.

The short earth kingdom girl was lifting boulder at least three times her size into the air, proving her inhuman strength for her small size, and trapped other agents into the ground, but she was at a disadvantage: the opposition could bend everything she could, except- was it his eyes playing tricks on him, or did she just fling a sold bar of metal, the remainders of what had blocked off the entrance the his escape and the waterbenders, not twenty minutes ago. Nice. The avatar himself was using mostly air and agility, but stood his ground against most attacks, using mainly, the scarred teen noticed, water and air, not earth, except to defend, and definitely no fire. Figures, that fire would be the one element he knew nothing about.

It only took his brain about two seconds to take this all in, but that was all the time the Dai Li agents needed to close him in. Glancing about for an opening, he noticed the first of a series of large bricks and earthen fists coming at him from the corner of his right eye. Curse them, for coming in on his bad side. Then, he saw his opening: he could jus slip between two widely placed earthbenders on the left side, grab hold or a large, glowing crystal sticking up right from the rocks at a seemingly odd angle. It was thick, and more importantly, it looked like it could hold his weight.

Just as the missiles were about to reach him, he sprung into action. He slid in between the gap, through an agent's legs and reached up and grabbed the crystal he had spotted protruding from the rock, and swung up, avoiding the next boulder, into a handstand position on top of the glowing rock. Then he pushed, hard, and launched himself into the air, allowing his hooked boots to catch on a jag in the ceiling, and doing a midair somersault before landing all the way on the other side of the room, from which he could easily send some flame in the earth kingdom men's direction, which he then did, allowing the fire to creep around like an octopus tentacle, to sneak up behind an unsuspecting agent, before grabbing the surprised man by the ankle or arm and flinging them up into midair, and letting them drop again, and painfully depositing them on the hard earthen floor. The Dai Li agents were not fazed; they merely stood up and began to attack again.

Zuko saw that if he were to completely stop the Dai Li attack, he would have to either kill them, which he wouldn't do if he could avoid it, disable them completely, like Ty Lee could… now there was an idea, with only one small problem-he hadn't the faintest idea how. Then there was ignoring them and running, which was weak, and there was… Iroh. His uncle was still trapped. He leapt up in the general direction he had last seen the old man in, and was immediately showered with boulders in every shape and size. Glancing across the room, he noticed the small blind girl was taking care of that problem, and the Dragon of the West turned his full fury on the opposition. Suddenly a large boulder came at him from behind, completely knocking him off his feet, sending him flying onto the floor, where rock shackles immediately sprung up, trapping him. He stayed stock still, hardly daring to breath, and even as he listened, the entire room fell silent. That was when he felt it. A pulse, beneath the floor, like a large heart beat was flowing, like a river of fire, and it was taking him with it… like a life. Using his senses as a firebender, Zuko reached down into the beating, and discovered what, deep, deep down inside the earth, had caused they crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se. A volcano. It was alive.

Aang watched as Zuko was knocked down, supposing that his fight with Azula had began to catch up on him. He was subdued, but once again, didn't seem mad. In fact, he didn't really seem like anything, he was just starting at the floor, his one good eye wide. The avatar was disturbed-Zuko had really been acting weird recently. He stopped. All the Dai Li agents were now staring as well. Even Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Zuko's Uncle had stopped moving. Until Toph grinned. She whispered something in Iroh's ear, who replied with a somewhat desperate air about him. Toph punched him.

One of the agents made to grab the Prince, but as he did, Zuko thrust up his arms, breaking through hi bonds, and a startling stream of magma jumped up at his will. Aang watched with horror, remembering his previous incarnation Avatar Roku, and how the Fire Nation Avatar had died. Watching as the prince pulled up more lava, and jumped on the stream, the fight broke out again, with all the opposition on the prince. The magma swirled about, and Zuko sent large streams at various agents, and just before it hit them, he withdrew the heat, but not completely, trapping them against their own element.

A couple minutes later, the entire room was glowing a bright orange, and Zuko was winning the long lasting fightn, when Aang felt the volcanic gasses seeping up around him.

"Guys!" He yelled. "Come on, we need to get out of here!" Katara reacted, pulling Toph's arm, and clapping her hand over her mouth. Sokka followed suit, but Iroh stayed put.

"Come on Iroh! We need to go!" Katara yelled.

"I'm not leaving without my nephew!" He retorted, and set off for the thickest of the flames. Toph jumped away from Katara's grip, and but on a spectacular display of earth bending, pulling the old man away, catching his hands behind his back, and forcing him to follow them. She left no room for protest, as hard as the dragon tried.

"Your stupid nephew will be fine. He doesn't even seem affected by the poisonous gases." Toph hollered, and set off at a run. The gases were becoming overwhelming, and Aang couldn't last that much longer without fresh air. After some short minutes, they neared the end of the passage way they he had made previously, when the sound of an enormous explosion echoed from below. Lava burst up at them, only to be drawn back. Panting. Zuko ran up behind them, carrying Azula. setting off a large explosion that destroyed the pathway they were just leaving. Breathing heavily, he quickly explained what he had been doing.

"Everyone down there will live. I let the volcano calm down to what it was again. Azula will be taken care of for a little while, and then imprisoned, I guess. The Dai Li will no longer follow her, of that much I'm sure. Anything else, ask later. Right now, let's get outta here."

Nods followed this, as the group was released into the fresh air of the earth kingdom city. Only then did the young avatar let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding, as the gentle breeze swept across his face and he was slightly elated. He turned around, and the first thing he noticed was that both Iroh and Zuko were gone, with Azula.

"Hey!"

Katara whirled around, and Sokka got whapped full force in the face with her long braid.

"What! Are you ok? Did something happen? Answer me!"

"It's nothing. Just Iroh and Zuko are gone."

"Twinkle toes, it wasn't that hard to figure out. Really." Toph threw in. "And they took lightning gir. With them."

"And I know where they went to. Before Azula caught me, I saw both of them working in a tea shop in the upper ring, right on the other side, so our paths didn't cross until I had traveled all over looking for Appa and putting up posters and flyers. When I was done, well, that was when I saw them." After a moment's hesitation she added, "I was about to go in for a cup of tea. It's called the Jasmine Dragon."

"So, let's go tomorrow. Sound good?"

"Sure thing, and on the way, let's see if we can't find a butchers, all right? A warrior needs his meat!" Sokka's comment was met with groans of despair, an especially loud one escaping his sister.

"What! I'm just saying!"

The entire group had by now started walking towards their assigned house. People stared at them as they passed, but they didn't seem to care in the least. All they wanted was to get to a warm bed where they could spend the night, and to get their quickly. The next day was going to be very stressful.


End file.
